A few of us have talked about the brilliance of Scott Galloway, and his TED talk is going viral. I've seen streamers on Youtube discussing it as well. I figured I'd post here to see if anyone wants to discuss. It's worth the watch. 

Its an awesome talk.

Probably wont be much fun discussing in this forum, with these people.

 

I particularly like his ideas on college. My daughter starts high school in fall. Private high school is no bargain, either but I'm managing. I've stressed to her the importance of not taking on any student loans. They are the biggest scam going. I've been paying mine for 7 years and currently owe 10k more than I originally borrowed. When I was graduating high school there was a stigma associated with community college. There probably still is, but it's affordable. 2 years at CC and 2 years at a PASSHE school like West Chester gets you out for less than 25k. Hopefully she gets a scholarship, but if not, that's the best path.

People I work with who are still in their 20's have no dream of ever being able to own a home. It's just something that is completely off the table for the foreseeable future for a 20 something making 50k. 

17 minutes ago, Gannan said:

I particularly like his ideas on college. My daughter starts high school in fall. Private high school is no bargain, either but I'm managing. I've stressed to her the importance of not taking on any student loans. They are the biggest scam going. I've been paying mine for 7 years and currently owe 10k more than I originally borrowed. When I was graduating high school there was a stigma associated with community college. There probably still is, but it's affordable. 2 years at CC and 2 years at a PASSHE school like West Chester gets you out for less than 25k. Hopefully she gets a scholarship, but if not, that's the best path.

People I work with who are still in their 20's have no dream of ever being able to own a home. It's just something that is completely off the table for the foreseeable future for a 20 something making 50k. 

I had 10k in loans after I got out.  I did work 10hrs a week and I was lucky enough to get some scholarship money from my high school.  That 10k was totally doable but coming out with 200k now is another thing entirely.

My wife used a small amount of loan money, less than 10G, we paid that off right after she got her Bachelors degree. We will be paying for both my kids college, but we will require them to work while in school unless there's a reason for them not to.

29 minutes ago, Gannan said:

I particularly like his ideas on college. My daughter starts high school in fall. Private high school is no bargain, either but I'm managing. I've stressed to her the importance of not taking on any student loans. They are the biggest scam going. I've been paying mine for 7 years and currently owe 10k more than I originally borrowed. When I was graduating high school there was a stigma associated with community college. There probably still is, but it's affordable. 2 years at CC and 2 years at a PASSHE school like West Chester gets you out for less than 25k. Hopefully she gets a scholarship, but if not, that's the best path.

People I work with who are still in their 20's have no dream of ever being able to own a home. It's just something that is completely off the table for the foreseeable future for a 20 something making 50k. 

Guessing you started college later in life if you're 7yr into loans and have a kid going into High School?

Nobody in my family had went to college, so there was no past-experience or knowledge of what that looked like from a financial standpoint. I graduated HS in 2003 and at that time there definitely were some stigmas with community college, and I got admitted into the Engineering program at the Private University I wanted to go to (with some level of financial assistance provided by them, and was a child of a single mother so I go the maximum amounts allowed in NY state for being teh poor)... I want to say I still probably had to take out somewhere around $20k in student loans. I think the worst part is there is no transparency or information provided when you apply or accept those loans that shows "when you graduate in an expected 2007, you are going to owe X amount per month for Y years" or even show them graduated since I know some start smaller and then every couple years have an increased payment amount. 

My freshman year I finished with like a 3.17 GPA, and my merit scholarship (which was a "merit" one for me, but several other friends I made Freshman year seemed to have the same amount that was free-and-clear (independent from grades), and because I didn't hit a 3.25, when I returned to campus late-Aug of my Sophomore year the finance office on campus told me I had to come up with $5700ish by the end of September or I was getting the boot. My dad co-signed (hesitantly, which was frustrating) for that $5700 -- of which he never actively paid a dime -- and I got to continue school. So even my freshman year, of the $35k it probably was with tuition/room/board, only around $6k was provided by the university, the rest in whatever grants they gave poor people and whatever Federal Loans I had. 

That second summer I did a Co-Op that went May-Dec, allowing me to make money (of which we were way underpaid). End of Sophomore year I went through the application and interview process to be an RA, so when I returned in Jan they had me backfill a Winter-grad so I got free Room (~$5000 a year) and got 1/2 of Meals covered (~$2500). That prevented me from having to take out that $5700 loan again, and I was good until Aug 2007. Because of the Co-Op, and my small major (we were school's largest class ever with 29ish of us), my Jr Yr Fall classes were only offered in the Fall, and those were pre-reqs for the Spring classes only in the Spring. So that Jan semester year 3 after my Co-Op I wasn't able to take any core classes, moving me to a 5yr track (but allowing me to knock our electives and all the other misc stuff -- I also switched to a Double Major which required 4 additional classes so I was able to fit those in over 5 semesters without issue).

While I was an RA for those final 2.5 years, going into Year 5 I learned that the financial aid I got for being poor only covered 4 years of Undergrad... so I had to take out Private Loans once again my 5th year which probably totaled an additional $15-20k. That I learned was amount, and I think at a shittier interest rate, that probably hurt me most financially right out of school. ((( will discuss loans repayment in a separate post )))

Thanks for sharing.  There is quite a difference between the generations. College, especially CC was just starting to be pushed when I was finishing HS.

Oldest niece went to Penn State.  She is a PM for some pharmaceutical -doing very well.  Nephew went to Hopkins on an athletic scholarship.  Very hard to get and today he is doing insanely well. My sister's girls had the good fortune of their father being CIO at St. Joe's.  One graduated from Syracuse, lives in LA, and the other graduated from St. Joe's. and lives at home.  I don't think either owe any loans currently. 

Now, in line with Scott was saying, my younger brother's children are fine but not exceeding.  Hid oldest went to Catholic in DC.  Surely that cost a boat load.  Thought she would be doing social work.  After a brief stint at a Court House job, she quit and has been at QVC since.  Nephew did 2 years in Colorado (State) -He did not finish and is working locally.  The youngest has worked really hard. If there was a school shooting she would refuse to go to school.  In high school she began to self harm.  My brother and sister in law were all over the US getting her the help that she needed.  She missed most of her junior year of hs.  Presently, she seems to be on a good med regimen.  She will be graduating with her class.  Was accepted to Penn State, but she decided on Colorado University for fall to study psychology. I wish she would stay in PA, I worry but trust all will be OK.  

Quite a difference from oldest to youngest.

What he has said about doing what you're good at, as opposed to your passion (not that they're necessarily mutually exclusive), might be single most valuable piece of advice I've ever heard offered to young people at large.

37 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

I had 10k in loans after I got out.  I did work 10hrs a week and I was lucky enough to get some scholarship money from my high school.  That 10k was totally doable but coming out with 200k now is another thing entirely.

You went to college 40 years ago.  
 

 

those those wanting to skip over the previous post.

Graduated May 2008 with probably around $100k in Student Loan Debt. I think I was averaging around $15k/year for 4 years, then had a 5th year (Co-Op for 7 months pushed graduation out 1yr) where I wasn't getting aid any more as 5th year undergrad, so took on probably around $35K that last year alone. 

Payments started in Jan 2009 at $550 a month (combined), paying the minimum amounts. I moved to California in Nov 2011 and I think I was paying around $700ish at that time, and then I was in Boston Sept 2012 and my entire time in Boston through when my loans got paid off (7+ years) I was paying in the range of $950 a month. In Mar 2020 I finally was able to sell my dad's house in Florday (2.5yrs after he passed an the Probate/Estate Court process started), and with a portion of the money I got from selling the house, I paid off my remaining student loan debt that was around $65k.

$20K + $16K + $80K   are the amounts I paid in total monthly over 11yrs. -- on around ~$100k borrowed.  Then in Year 12 still paid around $65K additional to payoff what was left... When I began at $550 a month I was making $50k a year. When I was making my final payments (before paying off) I was probably making around $88k a year. 

 

13 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

You went to college 40 years ago.  
 

 

The entire talk is about how things have changed since then 😂😂

Of course you just try to throw a dart at me with no actual thought behind it 😂

You did good @Agent23

Toward the end of my daughter's sophomore year of HS, I put 1/2 of my paycheck into a 529 and went a bit aggressive since there wasn't much time. Was able to pay in full for her 1st year. I still helped out during undergrad and she had to do the loans.  She did her master's completely on her own.  She is 37 and she has managed to pay off everything.  She was just offered a job for the fall in a MUCH better school district and will be making +$25K.  She's also getting married, so glad and excited that she is doing well.  

My son is some sort of self-taught agricultural engineer with no degree or loans to be paid.  My best barometer for him is that he makes more than Momma and his bank balance is always way more than mine.  He still has the same bank account that we opened jointly when he was 14.  In case you're wondering how I know what his bank balance is. 

Edited to also add that I have a girlfriend (my age) with 4 children, and she paid for all 4 to go to college.  Not 1 penny ever owed.  Talk about being a poorer.

15 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

You went to college 40 years ago.  
 

 

 

1 minute ago, DrPhilly said:

The entire talk is about how things have changed since then 😂😂

Of course you just try to throw a dart at me with no actual thought behind it 😂

I like Scott Galloway, seen him initally on Maher and then again a couple times after and in random stuff on Youtube. Seems like a fairly smart dude, and while I think he can be a bit reductionist, and I disagree with a lot of the things he suggests as "solutions", I think his heart is in the right place and he genuinely wants to enact change for the betterment of society. Which is not something you can say about the vast majority of people that end up with these types of platforms.

He's weird in the sense that he can come across as both cynical and optimistic when he presents his arguments. Likewise when proposing solutions to problems, he seems both pragmatic while also idealistic. "If we just do X, Y, and Z, we can fix these incredibly entrenched and complex problems that will cause undue harm to future generations." I mean, sure if you're living in a fantasy land rather than the US, because almost all these "solutions" would be branded as "socialist, authoritarian overreach" by conservatives the minute they hear about them. And they wouldn't even be entirely wrong about some of it. Likewise, try telling boomers (lib or con) you're gonna cut their social security as you're campaigning for their votes.

At the end of the day though, he's just reframing the issue of wealth inequality from a generational perspective. I agree with him that it absolutely is a problem that cannot be allowed to continue unabated, but the answers are hardly as simple or as consequence-free as he pretends they are.

I agree with the premise. As a middle-class adult of child-rearing age, I have seen myself and my peers who have come from families of 3- or 4- or more siblings, to having 1- or 2- children before calling it quits. If they even decide to have children at all. I have several friends who got married and decided having children wasn't for them. The incentive isn't there: Childcare is expensive. Several of my friends put careers on hold to look after their kids, because childcare cost more than their salary. Private school tuition costs more than college and there is even less financial aid available. The local public school is getting raked; enrollment is going up but they are cutting teachers and programs. Young adults are starting careers with decades of college debt before they even consider a car payment or mortgage. It takes years of full-time work just to scrape a down payment. Parents are tapped out. The only incentive left is nature; to prolong your genes. Only the insanely rich have the resources for a large family, or the extreme poor who can get any assistance.

It is the trap of capitalism: You need money to make money. So you sacrifice and scrape while you are young to build a nest egg, protect it, so then you have something (hopefully) by the end. If the elderly are going to hoard all the wealth, then I think the nuclear family has to change. Grandparents should be providing for their progeny. But it's also really expensive to be old. There are lots of medical bills and things to take care of.  But I think if you make the elderly responsible for it, and they hold the votes to change policy, maybe they will have more incentive to actually change things.

2 hours ago, HazletonEagle said:

Its an awesome talk.

Probably wont be much fun discussing in this forum, with these people.

 

Why do you say that? I know you have an H-Superiority complex, but this is pretty politically agnostic.

Just so you can point out how smart you are in comparison to others? 

Galloway is right on so many points in this that it is hard to keep track

 

Went to Penn State Berks campus in early 70s.  Tuition cost $275/semester which VA paid as my dad was a disabled veteran.  Associate degree in Chemical Engineering.  Worked few odd jobs till I finally got one in field.   Can’t believe the cost of college now.

Son went to Pittsburgh Institute of Art.  Paid 70k for an associate degree in Video Production.  He has decent job with State, not in video production.  We payed off his loans when he was struggling financially.

12 minutes ago, Next_Up said:

Why do you say that? I know you have an H-Superiority complex, but this is pretty politically agnostic.

Just so you can point out how smart you are in comparison to others? 

Galloway is right on so many points in this that it is hard to keep track

 

you must be new here.

the closet i got to college was puking at a temple party. 

2 minutes ago, Alpha_TATEr said:

the closet i got to college was puking at a temple party. 

Why did you puke in the closet? Seems rude.

3 minutes ago, Boogyman said:

Why did you puke in the closet? Seems rude.

Sorry - I really don't want to derail this topic - but I just want to point out that if you really want to upset your host, the place to puke is the clothes hamper.

1 minute ago, Arthur Jackson said:

Sorry - I really don't want to derail this topic - but I just want to point out that if you really want to upset your host, the place to puke is the clothes hamper.

Yup. Rude. 

 

1 hour ago, Agent23 said:

Guessing you started college later in life if you're 7yr into loans and have a kid going into High School?

Nobody in my family had went to college, so there was no past-experience or knowledge of what that looked like from a financial standpoint. I graduated HS in 2003 and at that time there definitely were some stigmas with community college, and I got admitted into the Engineering program at the Private University I wanted to go to (with some level of financial assistance provided by them, and was a child of a single mother so I go the maximum amounts allowed in NY state for being teh poor)... I want to say I still probably had to take out somewhere around $20k in student loans. I think the worst part is there is no transparency or information provided when you apply or accept those loans that shows "when you graduate in an expected 2007, you are going to owe X amount per month for Y years" or even show them graduated since I know some start smaller and then every couple years have an increased payment amount. 

My freshman year I finished with like a 3.17 GPA, and my merit scholarship (which was a "merit" one for me, but several other friends I made Freshman year seemed to have the same amount that was free-and-clear (independent from grades), and because I didn't hit a 3.25, when I returned to campus late-Aug of my Sophomore year the finance office on campus told me I had to come up with $5700ish by the end of September or I was getting the boot. My dad co-signed (hesitantly, which was frustrating) for that $5700 -- of which he never actively paid a dime -- and I got to continue school. So even my freshman year, of the $35k it probably was with tuition/room/board, only around $6k was provided by the university, the rest in whatever grants they gave poor people and whatever Federal Loans I had. 

That second summer I did a Co-Op that went May-Dec, allowing me to make money (of which we were way underpaid). End of Sophomore year I went through the application and interview process to be an RA, so when I returned in Jan they had me backfill a Winter-grad so I got free Room (~$5000 a year) and got 1/2 of Meals covered (~$2500). That prevented me from having to take out that $5700 loan again, and I was good until Aug 2007. Because of the Co-Op, and my small major (we were school's largest class ever with 29ish of us), my Jr Yr Fall classes were only offered in the Fall, and those were pre-reqs for the Spring classes only in the Spring. So that Jan semester year 3 after my Co-Op I wasn't able to take any core classes, moving me to a 5yr track (but allowing me to knock our electives and all the other misc stuff -- I also switched to a Double Major which required 4 additional classes so I was able to fit those in over 5 semesters without issue).

While I was an RA for those final 2.5 years, going into Year 5 I learned that the financial aid I got for being poor only covered 4 years of Undergrad... so I had to take out Private Loans once again my 5th year which probably totaled an additional $15-20k. That I learned was amount, and I think at a shittier interest rate, that probably hurt me most financially right out of school. ((( will discuss loans repayment in a separate post )))

It was for my doctorate. It's a nice thing to have, but not nearly worth what I paid for it. I forgot about co-ops and work study which are also good programs for undergrads.

1 hour ago, we_gotta_believe said:

I like Scott Galloway, seen him initally on Maher and then again a couple times after and in random stuff on Youtube. Seems like a fairly smart dude, and while I think he can be a bit reductionist, and I disagree with a lot of the things he suggests as "solutions", I think his heart is in the right place and he genuinely wants to enact change for the betterment of society. Which is not something you can say about the vast majority of people that end up with these types of platforms.

He's weird in the sense that he can come across as both cynical and optimistic when he presents his arguments. Likewise when propsing solutions to problems, he seems both pragmatic while also idealistic. "If we just do X, Y, and Z, we can fix these incredibly entrenched and complex problems that will cause undue harm to future generations." I mean, sure if you're living in a fantasy land rather than the US, because almost all these "solutions" would be branded as "socialist, authoritarian overreach" by conservatives the minute they hear about them. And they wouldn't even be entirely wrong about some of it. Likewise, try telling boomers (lib or con) you're gonna cut their social security as your campaigning for their votes.

At the end of the day though, he's just reframing the issue of wealth inequality from a generational perspective. I agree with him that it absolutely is a problem that cannot be allowed to continue unabated, but the answers are hardly as simple or as consequence-free as he pretends they are.

They're not, but the points he raises need to be addressed or we are going to be in big trouble. Trump is gaining popularity among young people for doing exactly what you're saying here...offering simple and unrealistic solutions for very complex problems. Bernie was popular among young people for the exact same reason. Bernie lost. Trump is going to lose again. My fear is what comes after them.  

1 hour ago, Boogyman said:

My wife used a small amount of loan money, less than 10G, we paid that off right after she got her Bachelors degree. We will be paying for both my kids college, but we will require them to work while in school unless there's a reason for them not to.

lmao you misspelled "she."